SA Footy

FORMER St Kilda coach Grant Thomas believes Essendon purposely "tanked" its season last year and Richmond is going down the same path this year.

Thomas, the guest speaker at the Devils-Box Hill pre-match lunch at Bellerive on Saturday, said he believed some teams use the system to their advantage. But he said only coaches with long-term contracts could do so.

"I have no doubt Essendon tanked last year," Thomas said.

"I have no doubt they played some players in positions, had (operations) done and gave players rests.

"Tactically and strategically they were doing things in games . . . when we watched Essendon one week then the week after, we were just scratching our heads and wondering what they were doing."

He said he believed the Bomber players were trying but were not given the opportunity to succeed.

"I think you are seeing more of a reflection of what Essendon is like this year," Thomas said.

"When a team has been harnessed for 12 months, they will come out and play very assertively."

And he believes it is happening again in the AFL.

"Now there is that situation and you look at Richmond who are 0 and six (wins and losses) and Terry Wallace asking for Darren Gasper's resignation," Thomas said.

"Obviously Richmond has made the decision, 'We are not going to make the finals, so we'll make the decision to get as many games in our young players as we can and if that gets us in the finals, well and good but if it doesn't and we end up down the bottom that is not such a bad thing because we will have (early) draft choices'."

I have no doubts at all that teams can manipulate performance.

Putting young players in, changing players positions...

All can be justified as testing, thinking of tomorrow, experimenting with things.

A side product of this is that, well - doesn't matter if you lose - so we might as well get something out of it.

i understand clubs would tank the season if they got off to a bad start, so this year richmond and melbourne may TANK games for the rest of the season as it is hard to play catch up.

but he says the bombers tanked games and he was wondering why players were in certain positions etc, but his coaching performance was nothing special............

As you said MT his coaching record is pretty average, maybe he just didnt understand what Sheedy was doing?

I was tanked last night...crook as a dog today...didnt work for me.....

Ironic coming from Thomas the Tank - The Fat Controller.

Grant Thomas suggesting a team 'tanked' for draft picks.I guess they could always pick a fool to coach a talent laden side that achieves farg all.

These sort of allegations are always going to be around until they make a the bottom eight a raffle. That way for example Ninth could get the number one draft pick and the spooners could get pick 8 as their first choice.

Leaping Lindner wrote:These sort of allegations are always going to be around until they make a the bottom eight a raffle. That way for example Ninth could get the number one draft pick and the spooners could get pick 8 as their first choice.

Yes, this should be the system.

The wooden spoon should be shameful, not rewarded.

Aerie wrote:

Leaping Lindner wrote:These sort of allegations are always going to be around until they make a the bottom eight a raffle. That way for example Ninth could get the number one draft pick and the spooners could get pick 8 as their first choice.

Yes, this should be the system.

The wooden spoon should be shameful, not rewarded.

That is what occurs in the NBA....however it would be more appropriate for the bottom 4 IMO not bottom 8

A bit rich considering the Saints did it for years.

I seriously doubt that Essendon would have done that, in order for that strategy to work they would have to get seriously better players than what the other teams behind them get and the difference isnt usually that great in the first three picks. They would also have to have repeated it more than once. Yet having said all that, Fremantle are a good example of the fact that being rewarded with first round draft picks constantly for finishing low does not result in a team becoming a finals contender quickly.

Essendon had a crap year last year that is true, yet they are well on the way to correcting that, considering how many times they have had a go at the finals in recent years, it was likely that they were going to drop out sooner or later.

Like Grunt Thomas can talk anyway, what was his contribution to St Kilda overall?

Dutchy wrote:

Aerie wrote:

Leaping Lindner wrote:These sort of allegations are always going to be around until they make a the bottom eight a raffle. That way for example Ninth could get the number one draft pick and the spooners could get pick 8 as their first choice.

Yes, this should be the system.

The wooden spoon should be shameful, not rewarded.

That is what occurs in the NBA....however it would be more appropriate for the bottom 4 IMO not bottom 8

Yes, and we should not Americanise it by calling it the 'Lottery.'

As LL said, call it the 'Raffle.'

It can be drawn on Grand Final day at the pub.

First pick also takes home the meat tray.

I have no doubt that Richmond are tanking right now. They drop Gaspar the week before they tackle the league's tallest forward line and with two Adelaide games to follow. In a match were Geelong were always going to come out breathing fire they opted to sit Tuck and Johnson on the bench. The game was over by the time the skipper came on.

regards,

REB

Magpiespower wrote:

Dutchy wrote:

Aerie wrote:

Leaping Lindner wrote:These sort of allegations are always going to be around until they make a the bottom eight a raffle. That way for example Ninth could get the number one draft pick and the spooners could get pick 8 as their first choice.

Yes, this should be the system.

The wooden spoon should be shameful, not rewarded.

That is what occurs in the NBA....however it would be more appropriate for the bottom 4 IMO not bottom 8

Yes, and we should not Americanise it by calling it the 'Lottery.'

As LL said, call it the 'Raffle.'

It can be drawn on Grand Final day at the pub.

First pick also takes home the meat tray.

I like your thinking, not about the picks but the meat tray.

Dutchy wrote:

Aerie wrote:

Leaping Lindner wrote:These sort of allegations are always going to be around until they make a the bottom eight a raffle. That way for example Ninth could get the number one draft pick and the spooners could get pick 8 as their first choice.

Yes, this should be the system.

The wooden spoon should be shameful, not rewarded.

That is what occurs in the NBA....however it would be more appropriate for the bottom 4 IMO not bottom 8

That's a great idea ... there should be no incentive whatsoever to get the wooden spoon

give us a chance you blokes..... we have 1 year at the bottom and you want to change the rules..... FFS...... GO YOU TIGES

another grub wrote:give us a chance you blokes..... we have 1 year at the bottom and you want to change the rules..... FFS...... GO YOU TIGES

Go feed your kids.

I suppose you want another few years of bagging your team before changing the rules?

Leaping Lindner wrote:These sort of allegations are always going to be around until they make a the bottom eight a raffle. That way for example Ninth could get the number one draft pick and the spooners could get pick 8 as their first choice.

I think in the NBA the raffle system only set's up the first 3 Drafting positions, ie, bottom team doesn't win a birth in the top 3 picks they commence drafting from no. 4 onward ... Could be mistaken though (cue ORDoubleBlues, Dutchy).

Think your point is a valid one though.

NBA lottery system below....

As of 2005, with 30 NBA teams, 16 qualify for the playoffs and the remaining 14 teams are entered in the draft lottery. These 14 teams are ranked in reverse order of their regular season record and are assigned the following number of chances:

1/ 250 combinations, 25% chance of receiving the #1 pick
2/ 199 combinations, 19.9% chance
3/ 156 combinations, 15.6% chance
4/ 119 combinations, 11.9% chance
5/ 88 combinations, 8.8% chance
6/ 63 combinations, 6.3% chance
7/ 43 combinations, 4.3% chance
8/ 28 combinations, 2.8% chance
9/ 17 combinations, 1.7% chance
10/ 11 combinations, 1.1% chance
11/ 8 combinations, 0.8% chance
12/ 7 combinations, 0.7% chance
13/ 6 combinations, 0.6% chance
14/ 5 combinations, 0.5% chance